Third Time's the Charm

by K. J. Emrick

In the sitting room, Lowell is in the exact same chair as before, almost like this was a throne that he never stepped down from, where he and his velvet gloves sat in judgment on the whole world. Harper’s even sitting over there on the couch like she was last time. The chandelier sparkles above us and I swear those are the same dust motes dancing on the air. It was all kind of creepy, actually. Didn’t they have anything better to do than sit here day in and day out?

  Actually, no, I don’t think they do. I think this is a group of people who have exactly no purpose in life, living on memories of when they used to be important. Kurt was the only one of them with vision. He was going to change their way of life and try to make werewolves better than what they had always been. Someone had tried to stop him from doing that for their own reasons.

  That person was here, in this room.

  Every crime has a motive. Every act has a reason behind it. Figure out the reason, and you will find the person responsible.

  “I figured it out,” I tell the three of them once Ulva has stepped around me to get to her spot on the couch, right next to her best friend Harper. Their friendship wasn’t going to help her now.

  “That was fast, Miss Stone.” Lowell shifts uncomfortably in his seat, his cold eyes regarding me with suspicion. “I didn’t see any police officers coming in with you. Can I take that to mean that you kept to our deal, and kept our business private?”

  “I don’t have any duty to involve the police, Mister Dachiana. My responsibility is to my employer.”

  His one hand slaps down on the leather armrest. “Exactly!” he chortles. “And since we’re your employer, then your loyalty is to us. You’ll keep anything you’ve found out a secret, as we agreed.”

  “You’re wrong,” I tell him. It comes as a great satisfaction to see the way his sharp jaw drops his mouth into a perfectly round O.

  “You wouldn’t dare.” Ulva’s voice is a throaty growl. “You even try to tell anyone about our family’s secrets, and I’ll rip your throat out with my bare hands.”

  Well, that was violent. “What I meant is no, you’re not my employer. Molly Knowell hired me and she’s the one who gets to tell me what to do with what I’ve found out. In fact, talking to her was what gave me the final pieces to put it all together.”

  Lowell taps a gloved finger against the chair, over and over. “You keep saying you’ve discovered something, Miss Stone, and yet all you’ve done since you’ve been in our home today is insult myself and my sister with your stunning sarcastic wit. You left here yesterday with the intent of speaking to the Northside Demons, I believe. Can I take it that your suspects are members of that gang?”

  “No, that’s not it at all.” With exaggerated slowness I fold myself into the loveseat facing the couch. “The Demons didn’t do this.”

  Bullcrap…

  “Mister Dachiana,” I gasp dramatically. “Language, please.”

  His mouth drops into that O again, too stunned to think of a comeback.

  “It wasn’t the Demons, and you can trust me on that. In fact, I think you might have less trouble with them now that I had a chat with Jorge de Blanco. They had nothing to do with this and they aren’t suspects. All of my suspects are right here, in this room.”

  I’ve never had actual daggers glared at me before. If looks could kill, this would be the end of the ‘story’ right here, as Harry would say. Lowell’s eyes flash with feral anger under the sparkling glow from the chandelier. Ulva’s too.

  You’d think that much hatred would make a person catch fire from the inside out. Spontaneous combustion, right there in front of me. Not that I want to see anyone die, or anything catch fire necessarily, but one of these people deserves it.

  Of course they don’t catch fire, even as tempers flare.

  Tell us, then…

  “Tell us, then,” Ulva demands in a husky growl. “You think you’re so smart. You think you figured this out before we could. I still think Molly did this. She arranged to have the Garoul Necklace stolen to spite my family and then she hired you to cover up for what she did. Who else could have gotten through the spells she put on the box?”

  I shake my head, crossing my legs casually in a perfect imitation of the way I’d seen Ulva do it yesterday. “Nope. It wasn’t Molly. Think about it, Ulva. Why would Molly want to keep the necklace away from Kurt? Those two love each other. She wants her man back. She accepts the part of him that is the wolf, but she wants him to be able to hold her at night, to share her days, and to plan their future. Besides. She doesn’t have an evil bone in her body.”

  “But I do?” she asks disdainfully.

  “Uh, I don’t know you all that well but, yeah lady. You’re like the walking definition of ‘mean alpha type.’ I’d say those purebred bones of yours have plenty of evil in them.”

  If I was expecting her to be insulted, she surprised me with a coy little smile instead. “Thank you. I like the way you said that.” Then she laughs. “Oh, don’t be so surprised, Miss Stone. I am well aware of who I am, and I am perfectly fine with it.”

  “That’s good, because you had the most to gain by making this magic charm necklace disappear.” And just like that her smile is gone again. “You know I’m right. The magic of the Garoul Necklace has worked its way into Kurt. I don’t pretend to understand these things but without it, he can’t maintain his human form and even though that’s bad news for Molly, it’s good news for Kurt’s little sister, next in line for the throne. He can’t rule as a wolf. That puts you at the head of the family.”

  “Hmph,” she snarls. “I was at the Harvest Moon festival all night. So was Lowell.”

  “Neither of you can confirm that. From what I understand there’s wolves everywhere and either of you could have slipped away for a while and taken the necklace, and then come right back. Lowell may not be first in line behind Kurt like you are, but he’s first in line behind you. That means with Kurt out of the way, all he has to do is arrange an ‘accident’ for you, too, and then he gets to take over.”

  Ulva opens her mouth to argue with me, but then she snaps it closed hard enough to make her teeth clack audibly. Her eyes dart to her brother, the whites starting to seep into the yellow color of her animal side. Apparently, the thought of Lowell wanting her out of the way had never occurred to her.

  She was thinking about it now. Lowell was already one rung up the ladder with Kurt out of the way. The next rung he’d need to climb over would be her dead body. Her brother was just as ruthless as she was from what I’d seen, and he had a much more level head. It had been Lowell who suggested hiring me so they would be in control of whatever information I found out. It had been Lowell who had gone on and on about their family’s position and dominance. Lowell who sat there now, smiling a challenge at her, daring her to accuse him of any wrongdoing.

  Her brother. Lowell.

  Who else would it be?

  “You’re forgetting something,” Harper says to me. “I’m their witness. I can verify they were both at the festival, if you think they need an alibi.”

  Harper. Yeah. I’m guessing you forgot she was even here.

  Bouncing my foot in the air, I turn the conversation to her now. “You saw them both in the woods that night? Ulva and Lowell? You saw them running?”

  “Yes, I did.” She folds her arms across her breasts with her lips pursed. “So you can just go. We don’t want you here.”

  “Oh? Is that a fact?” I look her up and down, and don’t bother getting out of the chair. I really don’t care what she wants. “You know, you’re pretty close to this family, aren’t you? Close enough to lie for them.”

  “It’s not a lie,” Ulva says slowly. “Lowell and I were in the woods north of the city with all the other werewolves on the night of the Harvest Moon.”

  “Oh, I know you two were there,” I tell her with a shrug. “But Harper wasn’t. Here’s the thing, Harper. The only way you could say for certain Ulva and Lowell were at the festival all night is if you were runni
ng with them. But you’re not a werewolf. They don’t allow anyone else to run with them, so you can’t say they were there.” I hold up a hand when I hear both Ulva and Lowell about to protest. “That’s because she isn’t trying to give you two an alibi. She’s trying to give herself one.”

  Silence drops into the sitting room, heavy and complete. Ulva and Lowell looked at their friend. I hold her gaze without blinking. She’d just stepped into the trap I started laying from the moment I got here. She’d do anything to try to impress Ulva. Even lie for her. But now that I’ve caught her in a lie, it’s time to bring out the rest of it.

  “Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together.” Getting up from my chair I lean on my hip, hands moving in the air to illustrate the story I was able to collect from bits and pieces of what everyone had told me so far. “You’ve known the Dachianas since high school. I’m guessing your family was rich, and their family is obviously wealthy if they can afford a place like this on the outskirts of Detroit, and that put you all in the same upscale school. You and Ulva and Lowell….and Kurt.”

  “Ugh,” Ulva scoffs. “Are you seriously doing a trip down memory lane? This is supposed to be about who took our necklace.”

  “It’s both. Is there any reason it can’t be both?”

  “Just get on with it. If you came here to accuse Harper of doing it then you’re a fool. I’m going to enjoy watching you make an idiot of yourself. She’s a werdane. You honestly think some normal little human being did this to us?”

  Harper’s head snaps around, her harsh stare moving from me to her friend. “You just called me…?”

  Ulva looks confused. “Yes? I called you what?”

  “You called me a…a werdane. You’ve never used that term on me before.”

  “Oh, come on.” Ulva’s laugh is vile. “It’s what you are. Did you think you were here because you’re special? You’re here because I enjoy having someone around who doesn’t argue with me. You’re the perfect little yes-girl. Besides. When I’m ruling the werewolves we’ll need someone to be our link to the pathetic humans and who better than one of their own?”

  The hurt written all over Harper’s face isn’t faked. That’s a genuine emotion right there, including the shimmer of tears she’s fighting to hold back. It probably shocks her more than it did anyone else here to see it. She’s been hiding her real emotions for a very long time.

  A very long time.

  “High school is where this story starts,” I tell them. “Harper became your friend there, Ulva. She learned that hanging out with you had certain advantages. Then, from what you guys and Molly have told me, it’s also where she fell in love with Kurt.”

  Harper’s face flushes red. Ulva laughs at her discomfort. “So what? We all know that. They dated in high school, they broke up in college. I take it that witch woman Molly told you about that, didn’t she?”

  “Yes. She told me she met Kurt just after he’d broken up with someone. She told me that Harper was looking to get from Ulva what Kurt wouldn’t give her. Obviously, she was hoping Kurt would be her ticket to becoming a permanent member of your society. They were dating. She thought they were in love. Turned out she was wrong about everything. So she had to settle for being your friend, Ulva.”

  Some of that was just guesswork, but I can see the truth of it in Harper’s eyes. So can Ulva and Lowell.

  Up until that conversation with Molly in her bedroom I really had been pinning my suspicions on those two. I was sure Ulva or Lowell had done this. When you got right down to it there weren’t a lot of people who knew where Molly kept the necklace. Ulva even gave Molly the box to keep the thing in.

  But Molly had said something else, too. The only ones who knew were her, and Kurt, and Lowell, and Ulva…and anyone they told. Harper is Ulva’s little sycophant. Ulva might not tell her everything but she’s always hanging around in the background, unnoticed, unobserved, listening in. Just like a few minutes ago when she disappeared into the background of this room, forgotten until she spoke. She would know about the box from listening to the others talk about it.

  Harper had a strong motive for stealing the necklace, and I know why.

  I’d put it together from what Molly didn’t say, as much as what she did say. Like how Molly had been Kurt’s rebound after a breakup in college. Like how the family hated her, because Kurt loved her. There were other things, too. “I remember the way you looked at Kurt when I was here last time, Harper. You were hurt when he snapped at you. You still love the man. You dated him for a long time until he broke it off with you and fell in love with Molly instead. That didn’t sit well with you, did it?”

  She doesn’t answer. Her eyes say it all, though. I’m right. I’m not the only one who sees it, either.

  “Harper?” Ulva asks her. “What’s this all about? You told me you were over my brother.”

  The woman’s eyes slide toward Ulva with a fierce glare of her own. “I told you what you wanted to hear. I wouldn’t give Kurt the satisfaction of knowing how much it’s hurt me to see him with that…with that…little tramp!”

  “You stupid…” Ulva takes a slow breath, and then lays another truth on Harper. “Did you really think we would allow Kurt to keep dating you either? You aren’t one of us, Harper. You aren’t a werewolf. You’re just somebody I keep around.”

  She couldn’t have hurt Harper more if she had actually slapped her.

  And now it’s time for me to drive the point home. “See, I was looking at this all wrong. We all were. The necklace wasn’t stolen to hurt Molly. It wasn’t taken to keep Kurt trapped as a wolf and unable to become the head of the Dachiana family. Oh, it was taken to hurt him, but not like that. This was a crime of revenge for a broken heart. Harper’s heart, to be specific.”

  Lowell stands up now from his chair and slides his gloves off one finger at a time. He stomps the few paces over to stand next to Ulva, dropping his gloves on the floor, clenching his hands into fists. When I thought he might be the one who took the necklace I thought he was covering up his injuries. Now that I know it wasn’t him, I can see he’s just fine. He didn’t do it. Ulva didn’t do it.

  Harper did.

  “You,” Ulva growls. Her hands reach out toward Harper, the fingers crooked into claws, like she plans on ripping her to shreds. “You did this to him. You wanted him to be trapped in the luping to…what? Break him and Molly up? Was that it? You did all this because you thought Molly would go running and then you could have Kurt back?” A snarl rattles inside her chest. “You’re pathetic, Harper. Do you know what you’ve put all of us through? Without the necklace we were all at risk!”

  “Ulva,” Harper pleads, shaking her head until her blonde hair is twirling wildly. “I had to do this. I had to do it to get rid of the witch! Don’t you see? I had to do it for our family. She was going to ruin things for Kurt. She was encouraging him to lead the whole family astray. I’m the one who’s always been faithful to you and this family. Me. Me! I would have given the necklace back after she was gone. You know that’s true. You know I’ve always been loyal!”

  In one swift move, faster than human muscles could have moved, Ulva steps across and grabs Harper’s arm and twists it up painfully high. She stares her in the eyes, and I watch the color drain from Harper’s face and leave it a papery, sickly yellow. She swallows as Ulva’s lips peel back from her teeth in anger.

  “You could have ruined all of us, you stupid, ignorant bitch! By taking that necklace you could have thrown the whole Dachiana family out of favor with the other clans and sent us into exile!”

  “I did it for you!” Harper almost begs. “For you and for me. For us. It was for us…!”

  “You did it for yourself!” Ulva roars. “You wanted my brother and you didn’t care what it did to me! You’re dead to me, do you hear me? You are dead to me!”

  I can hear the words she’s about to say before she says them, and what I’m hearing is not in any way good…

  You’re dead to me…<
br />
  “You’re dead to me!”

  You’re dead…

  “You’re dead!”

  Ulva’s voice has dropped an octave, with a growl lacing the words and making them all the more awful. She means it, I realize. She is absolutely going to kill Harper and I need to stop her, now, before it gets that far. We need Harper to tell us where the necklace is.

  And, yeah. I don’t want her dead. I mean, she needs to be punished. Just not permanently.

  “Hey, Ulva, listen for a second…”

  She doesn’t listen. She’s past listening. She rounds on me, still holding Harper up by one arm, her eyes wild, her whole body tensed. Her face…isn’t human anymore.

  Her face has grown longer, stretching out until her mouth is long and thin and her nose has widened out and flattened. Fur has started to spread across her cheeks and her forehead. Her ears have grown points at the top, sticking out through her dark hair, hair that has started to attach itself all along her skin.

  Between her parted lips, her teeth are sharply pointed. Her fingernails have grown thicker. Blacker. Longer.

  The luping. This is what it looks like when they change into werewolves.

  Damn.

  Harper is terrified, shrinking back now that Ulva has let her go, until she bumps into a bookcase that goes from floor to ceiling filled with heavy, hardbound books. Her eyes are wide, the pupils dilated with fear, and her mouth is working to make words come out but the only thing being whispered over and over again.

  “Did it for us…did it for us…did it for…us…”

  Ulva takes a step in my direction, and then back in Harper’s, and back and forth while she growls and slowly changes more and more into her animal form. It’s like she can’t decide which of us she wants to tear into the most. Harper did the deed, but I brought her the news.

  “Hey,” I tell her with a nervous laugh, “don’t kill the messenger.”

  That phrase has never seemed more important in my whole life.

  All this time, Lowell has been standing to the side with a dumbstruck expression. The knowledge that the person who stole their necklace had been right here the whole time has taken him off guard. The sight of his sister starting to change into her wolf in their sitting room didn’t help. He hasn’t said anything about any of this. Now, he turns to me, and licks his lips.